Josh’s POV:
I’m done. It’s only 6 on a Wednesday night, but I am done. I am going to
find Donna, have a nice dinner with her and come clean about all the
secrets. ALL the secrets. Yes, I’m a little nervous, but I’m done with the
misdirection and the denial.
“Hey Ginger, anything urgent?” Please say no. Please say no.
“No, all is relatively quiet.” YES! “I did have a question about where to
make the dinner reservation, but Donna told me Marcel’s.”
“You told Donna about the reservation?”
“I just asked her where you usually go since you didn’t mention a place.”
Okay, that’s okay. “You got us in for 8:30?”
“I had to use Leo’s name, but you’re all set. Big date?”
“I think so.”
“You think so? That’s not a good sign, Josh. I definitely wouldn’t say that
to the woman you’re taking to dinner.” Ginger advises me.
“Got it.” This is going to be perfect. I go into my office and shut the
door. I call Donna’s extension while my heart starts to beat a little faster.
Leo promised he could keep her busy here until I got back so I know
she’s in the building, but what if she’s not in her office? Things were
much simpler when she was parked outside my door. But if she were
parked outside my door, then I couldn’t be calling her to ask her out. My
head is now officially pounding.
“Donna Moss.” God, just hearing her voice makes my palms sweat. Am I
a sap or what?
“Josh Lyman.”
“Hi. How’d it go with the minority counsel’s office?”
“Fine…as fine as anything goes with the minority counsel. I need you to
do something for me.”
“Oh, okay.” I hear her tone deflate at what I’m sure she believes is a
business request. “What do you need?”
“I need you to go to dinner with me…at Marcel’s…at 8:30.” Dead
silence. What does that mean in this context? “Donna?”
“Ginger said…that is I thought…dinner at Marcel’s?”
“Yeah, at 8:30. Can you be ready by then? I know women need time to
get ready for dinner. I don’t know why exactly, but I have learned they
insist on it. I could pick you up at 8:15.”
“But Marcel’s is…very expensive. If your date had to cancel for tonight
we could just order some pizza or Chinese. I can cancel the reservation
myself.”
“My date didn’t cancel. I didn’t have a date. I asked Ginger to make the
reservation for us…you and me.”
“But we already went out to celebrate my new job.” She protests and I’m
beginning to feel a little more anxious.
“That was ice cream and this isn’t about that. I mean, it’s not about the
job. I’ll pick you up at 8:15 okay?”
“Okay, 8:15.” I quickly hang up before she changes her mind or asks
anymore questions.
Donna’s POV:
Dinner at Marcel’s? Is he kidding me? Marcel’s is where he takes some
Congressman he’s trying to influence or some woman he’s trying to
date. It’s right on Pennsylvania Avenue and everyone who’s anyone
goes there to see and be seen. I can’t imagine that he’s taking me there
to tell me about this new woman. Something is very off here. I just can’t
figure out the angle.
The door buzzes and it must be Josh, but it’s 8:15 on the dot and I didn’t
call to remind him about the time. Since when is he on time for
anything? I answer the buzzer and sure enough it’s Josh. I let him in and
within 30 seconds, he’s knocking on the door.
I open it to find him in a fresh suit and holding flowers. What the hell?
Who is this, and what have they done with my Joshua?
“Hi. You look fabulous.” He tells me, but he makes no move to come in.
“Oh, these are for you.” He thrusts the flowers at me; a bouquet of red
roses. Now I am totally flabbergasted.
“Thanks. I’ll just put these in some water. Come on in.” I have to coax
him inside like we’re on some awkward blind date. I blow out a breath
and go into the kitchen to find something to put the flowers in; they are
gorgeous. I have no idea what’s going on here, but I’m about to find out.
I march back into the living room where Josh is pacing the length of the
room.
“What is going on with you Joshua? What is all this?” He looks at me
with a puzzled expression.
“What do you mean? I asked you out to dinner. That’s what’s going on.”
“Right, but we don’t go to Marcel’s; you and I. It would start tongues
wagging if you took your assistant to some expensive, high profile
dinner.”
“But you’re not my assistant anymore, so who would care?”
“Then what’s with the flowers? The only time you ever give me flowers is-
“
“On our anniversary, yes. Happy Anniversary!” He smiles like I’m the
prize pupil in his class.
“Our anniversary is in April. You always send me flowers in April.”
“And you always get pissed that I send you flowers in April instead of in
February. So this year we’re celebrating in February, like you wanted.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Don’t play dumb, Joshua, you’re not very good at it. You know what I’m
asking you.”
“I think you’re asking me why I’m taking you to dinner, bringing you
flowers, and celebrating our anniversary in February.” I nod. He starts
to pace again.
“You know last week, when Senator Blakely’s Chief of Staff asked you
out?” I nod again, but I doubt he sees me since he’s busy making a path
in my rug from the pacing. “I started to panic because I was afraid you’d
say yes.”
“But I said no.” I reminded him.
“I know, but just then I suddenly realized I didn’t have the energy to do it
anymore.”
“Do what anymore?”
“Sabotage any more of your dates, or find a way to make you jealous,
or pretend I don’t have feelings for you.” I grab his arm to stop his
pacing and force him to look at me.
“Feelings? You have feelings for me?” I practically stutter, but I can see
his eyes now, and he’s not messing with me. He really means it. My
hand moves to cup his cheek of it’s own volition. Now it’s his turn to nod
in answer to my question.
“I thought you…that you were seeing someone new. I thought that was
the reason you were being all secretive.”
“No! I just needed some time to plan things out. I needed to talk to Leo,
and figure things out with Matt and Mike…”
“That’s where you lost me. I couldn’t figure out what you were planning
with them.”
“You know I’m no good at planning, and I couldn’t ask you for help.” I
laugh at the expression on his face. I actually laugh.
“God, Josh, if you knew what I’ve been thinking all this time.” I lean
forward and kiss him before I even realize what I was doing. Pure
happiness spread through me as he pulled me back to him for a more
thorough kiss. I could stay right here for the rest of the night.
“As much as I’m enjoying this” he tells me as he kisses his way down my
neck, “We have reservations and I don’t want to be late. Can we
possibly continue this after dinner?” I nod and he grabs my coat from
where it was lying on the couch and helps me put it on. I think I might
have actually floated all the way to Marcel’s.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Dinner at Marcel’s is everything I’ve heard it could be. The food and
wine were fabulous, the service impeccable, and the ambiance was
elegant and romantic. But the best part of the whole thing was that Josh
held my hand throughout dinner. Senators, cabinet members, and
press stopped by; all wanting a word with the Deputy Chief of Staff, but
he politely rebuffed each one, directing them to call Ginger to set
something up and never let go of my hand.
More than one curious look was sent at our joined hands, but Josh
ignored them and made it clear he wasn’t interested in talking about
work with them. Josh Lyman has an amazing ability to focus. I’ve seen it
at work many, many times, but I’ve never been on the receiving end of it
before. It was a heady experience. Josh motioned for the check, then
pulled an envelope out of his breast pocket.
“I have something for you, an anniversary gift of sorts.” His dimples
showed as he hands the envelope to me. I carefully opened it as he
handed his credit card to the waiter. Inside is an Anniversary card with a
brochure inside. It’s for a ski resort in Vermont. Oh. My. God. I’m the ho
he’s taking to Vermont?
“Donna, what’s wrong? I thought you’d like to go skiing since you’re
always hinting about it. If you don’t want to go, we can cancel the
reservations.”
“I don’t think that will be a problem.” I murmur and he’s even more
confused. Then the waiter comes back to the table.
“I’m terribly sorry, sir, but the card has been declined. Would you care
to use another?” Oh. My. God. Josh is trying to use the card I cancelled
to pay for the very romantic, expensive dinner we just enjoyed. I feel my
entire face turn red.
“There must be some mistake. Could you run it again, please?” Josh
asks politely.
“Give him a different card, Josh.” I tell him, stopping the waiter from
going to try the card again.
“What? Why?” he legitimately asks.
“I’ll explain later, just please give him another card.” Before I die of
humiliation would be nice. Josh gives me another look like I’ve gone
round the bend, but obligingly pulls out a Visa that I have not cancelled
to pay for our meal. This was going to make for a very awkward
conversation on the way home.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Josh’s POV:
I have decided to retire as the James Bond of the West Wing. All this
sneaking around and super-secret planning only got me a cancelled
AMEX card and a migraine trying to explain to an airline and a ski resort
that the reservations were only accidentally cancelled. I’m done.
Besides, the real purpose of my secret mission was to get Donna and
now I seem to have her so we could say that my one foray into the life of
a secret agent was hugely successful.
Donna’s POV:
If I hadn’t blown my own secret spying mission so badly, I might have
taken after Josh a little more about his. I have decided to retire as a
spy. Yes, I uncovered the wanted information but I totally misread what
the information was telling me. I suck at the spying game. Fortunately
for me, I have other talents, and if the expression on Josh’s face right
now means anything, wearing a bikini in a hot tub at a ski resort is one
of them.
“Hey there Donnatella. You look like you’re getting a little warm in
there.” He notes.
“It feels good after spending a few hours traversing the slopes.” I tell
him.
“It was the bunny hill, Donna.”
“It was my first time skiing, Joshua. It felt like the Alps.”
“Yeah, you’re a real adventurer. Your ski instructor seemed nice; your
classmates too.” My lips twitch since my ‘classmates’ were mostly
children.
“I liked the private lesson you gave me better.” I admit. Now he grins. I
love to see that grin and know that it’s just for me.
“Well, see, the thing about skiing is that it uses specific muscles and the
better shape those muscles are in, the better skier you become.”
“Do tell.” I encourage him as he joins me in the hot tub in our suite.
He runs his hands down my legs as he continues. “For instance the
thigh muscles here and the calf muscles here, are critical to skiing
success.”
“Who knew?” I say while he continues to stroke my body. “ But did you
know that it is much easier on your body to exercise in water than on
land.” I toss back.
“You’re just a font of knowledge, Donnatella.” He starts kissing me and
everything else fades into the background.
“Are you sure we have to go back to work on Monday?” he asks me.
“I’m afraid so. I have this new job, you see, and it’s very important work.”
“But we can come back here again sometime, right?”
“As long as you don’t start having secret lunches to plan it, 007.” I tell
him.
“He’s retired.” He assures me before getting back to our ‘exercise’.
“Then again,” he reconsiders, “maybe just one more sub-mariner
mission.”
The End.